Representational Image. -Freepik

 
DHAKA, April 24, 2025 (BSS) - The Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), a public-private dialogue (PPD) platform, today laid emphasis on forming a joint BPPA-procuring entity taskforce to develop an Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) action plan and gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework.
 
The platform made the observation while unveiling the findings of a survey at a policy dialogue on the country's sustainable public procurement policy, held at the Six Seasons Hotel in the city, said a press release.
 
BUILD, in partnership with the International Trade Centre, BPPA, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, surveyed 40 women-owned enterprises (WoEs), procuring entities, and policymakers between November 2024 and January 2025 to identify challenges and opportunities in implementing SPP policies.
 
According to the survey, more than half of WoEs and procuring entities are unaware of SPP policies, posing a challenge to the government's long-term development goals, a new survey has revealed.
 
Around 60 percent of WoEs are unaware of the SPP policies, while only 23 percent of procuring entities are fully familiar with them, the survey said.
 
The SPP policies were announced in December 2023 by the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) under the planning ministry, with the aim of integrating environmental, social, and economic sustainability into public procurement practices.
 
Among the 90 percent of surveyed WoEs participating in public procurement, nearly 60 percent prefer the simpler request-for-quotation method, according to the survey.
 
Only 30 percent of WoEs use the more complex open tendering method, it added.
 
Women-owned businesses face challenges in public procurement, including gender bias, lack of connections, red tape, payment delays, and limited business skills, the survey reported.
 
Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO of BUILD, unveiled the findings.
 
"The findings highlight the urgent need for capacity building, awareness, and more inclusive frameworks to ensure equal participation in public procurement," she said.
 
The survey recommended standardising the definition of WoEs, collecting gender-disaggregated data through the electronic government procurement system, and organising targeted workshops for procuring entities.
 
A high-powered steering committee, led by the planning adviser, is already working on these issues, BPPA CEO Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman said at the event.
 
"SPP is not just a procurement reform; it's a paradigm shift in how we approach sustainability," he said.